Vietnam!

Greetings from Singapore!

As I write this on the 7th floor of the ship, we haven't actually arrived in
Singapore.  I see we are slowly sailing through a sea of ships, most of which are
parked.  We cannot arrive early at the port, or the ship company will be charged a
significant amount of money. This is true of any port, apparently. "A thousand
dollars per minute" if we arrive early or stay late.

---- GET Team: ----

The teaching team on this voyage has bonded beautifully, and seems pretty close
with the CCs, Communication Coordinators (volunteer translators) on the ship.  GET
= Global English/Espanol Training.

GET Team (I reserve the right to make errors below):

Carl: one of my roommates, tall with short hair and friendly blue eyes.  He has
bicycled across the United States!   We often speak in ebonics.

Carla: from Canada, lives in my old room.  She laughs freely, around 140 decibels. 
We worked together at Nova; she was my favorite teacher there! I told her about PB.

Dan: my other roommate, on the bunk below mine.  Part of the food-cleanup team when
we eat as a group.  Roots in Polynesia, but from the US.

Isabel: From Italy, one of the Spanish teachers; she's the youngest in years, but
really well traveled for her age.  Did a several month tour around the world via Up
With People.  Fluent in 4 languages, and speaks 2 others.

Karen: my classroom mate (in GET room 8); From Wales.

Kellie: From Hawaii, but has lived in Japan for 10 years.  My favorite teacher when
I worked at Gaba; I told her about PB and will be learning some hula from her!

Laura: from Canada (I hope) and grew up on a 100 acre farm with plenty of space.

Lisa: my other classroom mate (in GET room 3); she and I giggle at quirks in the
fabric of life that are supposed to be taken as normal.  I knew her from Nova, but
didn't know she'd be on this voyage!

Maruan: from England, asks piercing questions, but always with permission.  He'll
give a workshop on Islam sometime.

Nick: from east coast Australia; loves sport and all things Aussie.

Pepe: from Mexico, our other Spanish teacher; he likes things to be just perfect.

Petra: Born in Jamaica, but raised in London.  She was on the 49th voyage with me!

Phil: from England, was on the 48th voyage.  Beautiful eyes and compassionate to
everyone he meets.

Rob: me, repeater from the 49th voyage, and writing far too much!

Tony: from San Francisco, can breakdance and spin records as DJ Super Woox.  Into
meditation and taking care of one's spirit.

---- Vietnam: ----

We have already visited Vietnam, with the ship docking in Tien Sa (near Da Nang),
and most of the GET Teachers taking a taxivan to Hoi An to eat, hang out, and get
clothes made.

Across the river from Hoi An, we stayed in a hotel suggested by Laura for $5 per
night per person.  Clean rooms and firm beds, but with limited linens (just
mattress covers and blankets, but no bed sheets).

In Hoi An, I had one main objective: to find my friend Tam (with a ^ over the a,
pronounced like "Tom" in English), a woman I met in May during the 49th PB voyage. 
At that time she had been really friendly, and said, "you come back one year, I
remember you.. you come back two years, I remember you.."

It took me not too long to get reoriented in the city, during which time I met a
friendly shopkeeper named An who invited me to follow her to her shop. I needed to
walk that direction anyway, so I joined her. She was super-talkative, though I
basically couldn't follow what she was saying.  We walked along the street, past
countless shops as countless bicycles and scooters passed us.

Once I recognized where Tam's stall should have been, I became anxious for our walk
to end so I could begin looking for Tam.  We got to An’s shop after a few
turns down ever shrinking alleys, and I told her I would come back after I went to
find my friend.  She asked what time, but I wasn’t willing to commit to
anything so serious as that...

I retraced our steps, memorizing where we had been, and before I got to the street
where I planned to start looking for Tam, a woman was like, "hey, will you come buy
something?" (or something like that) and I realized with glee, she was Tam!!

Her eyes and smile widened when I was like, "you're Tam!" and we talked for about 2
hours.  Her English has gotten a bit better since last time, and she referred to
her notebook a few times to select from one of hundreds of phrases she has written
in there with translations. She taught me how to ask for a price in Vietnamese, and
how to say "too expensive;" critical language for bartering in the markets.

She gave me a ride (on her motor scooter) back to my hotel, but we stopped at her
house on the way, and I got to meet her family!  I taught her nephews how to do
high fives and got a picture with them. Her brother leads a team who makes sandals
and boots on the front porch; I enjoyed watching how efficiently they work.

Tam took me back to the hotel, and offered to take me from the hotel to the port
the next day, and I gladly accepted.  We planned to meet at the hotel at 1pm.

I reconnected with most of the GET Team for dinner, and we were stuffed again (as
we had been for lunch) for a relatively low price. During the meal, several of them
had fittings for their new clothes; I just chilled in the conversation and
occasional drops of rain.

- -

The next day after breakfast, I walked with Laura, who said she wanted to get "off
the beaten path."  I suggested we walk by Tam's house, which was close and
definitely not a touristy area.

At their shoe shop, they offered to make sandals for me, saying they would be ready
in 30 minutes.  I put down a 50,000 dong deposit (about $4) on 100,000 dong price. 
I didn't want to pay the full amount until I talked to Tam, who had said the
previous day I could get them for 60,000 dong.

We walked a bit farther along the river, and we were invited inside for tea by a
woman named Lang.  She asked if we could help her with something, which involved
going outside somewhere.  I thought she needed us to carry some heavy rocks or some
such, so I accepted.  She led us out to her boat on the river; Laura and I were
hesitant to get in, but I ended up giving my stuff to Laura and went for a ride.

That's exactly what it was, too; "help me" meant "pay me for a boat ride."  When I
asked Lang where we needed to go and she said, "I don't mind left right okay you
choose," I started paddling back to shore. Good thing I had offered to help paddle.

I ended up paying her 10,000 dong.  In my mind, it was for the tea. I'm glad it was
such an inexpensive miscommunication.

I read a chapter or two of my novel (Either _Speaker for the Dead_ or _Xenocide_,
both by Orson Scott Card, and both given to me by my brother.  I started the latter
as soon as I finished the first.) and slept a couple hours until around noon, when
people started to regroup at the hotel for our trek back to Tien Sa.

Tam hadn't shown up at the hotel by 1:15, so I walked to her house to try to track
her down.  She was there, and said she could not take me, but that her husband
could, and asked if I would pay him the same amount I had paid for the original
trip.

I queried about the price of sandals, and after a quick dialogue in Japanese, she
told me that had she been here when I ordered them, she could have requested the
60,000 dong price, but these were higher quality sandals.

I paid the 50,000 dong, and back at port paid $8 for the ride.  Everyone I met in
Vietnam was really beautiful and friendly and happy to see us.  And financially
really poor.  I really don't want to think it was all an elaborate plot, or an
ingrained mode of living to get more money out of me.  But I can't imagine what my
life would be like in similar circumstances..

---- Singapore ----

Ironically, I have extended family in Singapore, but haven't made arrangements to
contact them.

Interestingly, we arrived 1 hour earlier than originally planned.  I don't know of
a good reason for the ship company to pay $60,000, so I assume we got permission.

We have arrived in basically the exact same place as my last voyage, with the
hanging gondolas above us, and plenty of cruise ship and yacht traffic all around.

I plan to spend some time reading emails in Singapore, given that wireless internet
access will be free in certain fast food restaurants.  I love getting emails so I
know how everyone is doing, but it may be a while until I get a block of time to
reply...

   Love Love Love
     - Rob!